The present invention relates generally to recycling, and more particularly, to a machine for redeeming recyclable beverage containers of the type which carry optically-readable information codes.
In recent years, many states have enacted legislation which requires that beverage containers carry a redemption deposit as a technique for encouraging recycling and discouraging littering, at least of such redeemable containers. In other states, there have been extensive efforts to encourage voluntary recycling of beverage containers, even in the absence of required redemption deposits. As such, there has developed a need for efficient systems whereby beverage containers such as aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and glass bottles may efficiently be processed upon their return.
Retail outlets, which often must act as redemption centers, have had to utilize personnel to sort and count returned containers so that such containers could be returned to the proper distributor for redemption. This arrangement has required devotion of an inordinate amount of personnel time, and an inordinate proportion of the available floor space. Recycling thus has proven unacceptably expensive to most retail outlets and dedicated redemption centers. Accordingly, redeemers of beverage containers have sought a machine capable of automatically accepting redeemable containers and refinding the redeemer in the form of a monetary deposit refind, or a coupon for redemption at a retail store. Container redeemers also have sought a machine capable of receiving containers in bulk so as to simplify loading of containers into the machine. Additionally, container redeemers have sought a machine capable of recording a number of returned containers of each acceptable type such that a redemption refund may be charged against the proper distributor without hand-sorting and recording of returned bottles and cans. Further, a machine capable of efficiently reducing the volume of accepted containers has been sought in order to address deficiencies in available storage space. To this end, there has been a flurry of activity in the development of conveniently used reverse vending machines, and of techniques for the intake, or reverse vending, of recyclable bottles and cans.
One particularly useful reverse vending machine is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,627, which issued on Mar. 31, 1987 to Hampson et al. That patent discloses a bulk feed reverse vending machine which provides for the separation counting and crushing of beverage containers such as cans. The invention was improved upon by a machine including a rotary-bristle drive scanning station which aids in accurately identifying containers which are redeemed. That machine is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,149, which issued on Dec. 28, 1993 to Aldrich et al. Both of these inventions are commonly owned with the present invention and are incorporated herein by this reference.
Although the aforementioned reverse vending machines have proven extremely effective in the redemption of cans, and particularly in the redemption of standard-size cans, such machines have not addressed the more diverse redemption needs of most redemption centers. For example, known reverse vending machines have provided for pre-loading of the machine with containers, but have not accommodated subsequent in-feed of containers while the pre-loaded containers are processed. Known reverse vending machines also may use complicated and/or ineffective container advancement mechanisms, may be characterized by inaccurate container identification, and may employ unnecessarily complex or ineffective container off-load mechanisms.
As will be evident from the following description, the invented reverse vending machine is configured to process containers such as beverage containers. The machine includes an in-feed station with an in-feed door and a hopper accessible via the infeed door, the hopper having a first mouth which is open when the in-feed door is in an open orientation and closed when the in-feed door is in a closed orientation. The in-feed door has a second mouth, which is smaller than the first mouth, and which remains open regardless of in-feed door orientation. The in-feed station thus is configured to simultaneously freely receive multiple disarrayed containers through the first mouth when the in-feed door is in the open orientation, and is configured to receive containers through the second mouth when the in-feed door is in the closed orientation.
The machine also typically includes a container advancement mechanism with a selectively driven wheel which carries a plurality of container carrier elements configured for passage through the in-feed station hopper to capture and advance individual containers along a container advancement path to an off-load station where the containers are selectively discharged either to an acceptable container storage bin, or to an unacceptable container reject port.
The wheel is mounted for rotation about a central axis, a drive motor typically being mounted along the axis of the wheel. In one embodiment, the container carrier elements are defined by through-holes formed in the wheel, each through-hole being configured to receive a container transversely, and being configured to axially engage the container for axial passage of the container along the container advancement path.
The machine may further include a container identifier which employs a roller arrangement positioned along the container advancement path to impart axial rotary motion to containers within the container carrier elements as they pass thereby. An optical scanner also may be positioned along the container advancement path to read codes on the containers during rotation of such containers by the roller arrangement. The optical scanner typically is capable of producing an output signal which in turn is interpretable to identify selected containers as xe2x80x9cacceptablexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cunacceptable.xe2x80x9d A processor typically is employed to count xe2x80x9cacceptablexe2x80x9d containers which pass through the roller arrangement.
A container selector is positioned adjacent the off-load station to selectively direct off-load of acceptable containers from the container advancement mechanism to a container storage bin. The container selector, for example, may include a first pneumatic jet configured to urge acceptable containers from the container advancement mechanism to the container storage bin, and a second pneumatic jet configured to urge xe2x80x9cunacceptablexe2x80x9d containers from the container advancement mechanism to a container discharge chute. A container volume reduction mechanism such as a crusher may be mounted intermediate the off-load station and the container storage bin. Containers thus may be crushed or compacted prior to storage.
The xe2x80x9cacceptablexe2x80x9d containers typically are counted as described above, and the number of xe2x80x9cacceptablexe2x80x9d containers is recorded by a processor located onboard the machine. The machine then issues a corresponding redemption coupon or receipt, such coupon or receipt indicating a tally of xe2x80x9cacceptablexe2x80x9d containers counted by the counter during an operating cycle of the machine. The number of containers from each distributor similarly may be counted and recorded so that the proper distributor may be charged for the redemption which is issued by the machine.
As a safety feature, the in-feed door may be configured to define a non-linear channel which provides for passage of containers to the container advancement mechanism, but prevents direct user access to the container advancement mechanism when the in-feed door is closed. Additionally, the reverse vending machine may be configured to disengage the wheel""s drive motor when the in-feed door is open, thereby preventing accidental entanglement of the user with the wheel.